THE BLACK DOG - FATHER HENRY’S STORY
Well, to begin with, I’ve been a Catholic priest for more than 40 years.  I am now retired, and I have to say, I’ve lived a very active religious life.  My faith has taken me to many parts of the world, including a 21-year spell in India where I worked as a missionary in the city of Bangalor.  I belong to the Franciscan Order of priests and brothers, and have been retired for more than six years now.  My provincial felt that it would be best for me to relax for the remainder of my life.  I must admit, I also think this is best since I am losing my eyesight more and more.

     You asked about my experience with ghosts.  I have to laugh, because such things are difficult for many people to believe in, even priests.  But, I’ll tell you about something that happened to me many years ago.  It doesn’t have to do with ghosts, per se, but evil takes many forms.  I believe what I experienced many years ago at the Veterans Hospital in Albuquerque will prove this.  It happened in August 1943.  I had taken my final vows in July and was ordained to the priesthood.

     I was young and excited about my vocation as a pastoral minister.  Among my first official duties as a priest was celebrating Mass for the patients and staff of the Veterans Hospital in Albuquerque.  I offered Mass at 7 a.m., and then I made visits to the patients’ rooms for personal counseling, confessions, etc.

     There was no set schedule of activities around the hospital and I often received late-night and early-morning emergency calls to perform last rites.

     Very soon I had made good friends with several of the staff and patient families.  One afternoon, while at the hospital, I was summoned to a 15 year-old girl’s bedside by her family.  A nurse informed me that apparently the family was convinced their daughter was under the influence of an unseen evil force.

     The parents described in vivid detail several incidents that had occurred within a short time leading up to their daughter’s hospitalization. According to the parents, they no longer recognized their daughter.  Her personality had changed to such a degree that even her facial features had altered.

     About seven weeks before, their daughter, Lisa, began to complain about hearing a small, whimpering puppy in her room.  The sound was loud enough to wake her from sleep.  Lisa would get out of bed, turn on the light, and search behind her dresser, under her bed, and not be able to discover any evidence of a puppy or animal.  Eventually, the whimpering noise became so loud that poor Lisa would sit wide awake in bed with tears in her eyes concerned about the invisible, crying puppy.  The parents never heard the cries of the puppy and, as the weeks progressed, the nightly episodes of Lisa’s fruitless searching escalated to the point that the poor girl was screaming for the dog.

     Her parents concluded that their daughter was imagining everything.  Lisa became obsessed with the task of locating the puppy.  She refused to leave the house, and only walked out of her bedroom to use the bathroom.  Her mother brought her food to her bed. Lisa became so preoccupied that she soon lost all interest in bathing and eating.  Her parents sought the advice of friends to no avail.

     One night, Lisa’s parents discovered her sleeping under her bed.  Lisa told her parents that a man’s voice had told her to crawl under the bed and that the puppy would come to her.  Lisa did as she was instructed by the voice.

     The very same day her parents sought the help of a psychologist.  They found a doctor who had a private practice in Albuquerque, but who also worked parttime for the Veteran’s Hospital.  The psychologist evaluated Lisa and diagnosed her as schizophrenic.  Lisa was placed on medication, but the medicine caused her to become drowsy most of the day.  After two weeks had passed, poor Lisa worsened to the point of yelling obscenities at her parents and staring for hours at a time at her image reflected in a mirror.  She also began to recite the Lord’s Prayer, also known as the “Our Father,” backwards! She began by yelling loudly, “Amen, evil from us deliver, etc.”   When she reached the first word, “Our,” her father took his daughter by the shoulders and shook her, pleading for her to stop.  Lisa’s reaction was to open her mouth wide and scream out a wild, explosive laughter.

     She was beyond the point of being reasoned with, and her parents could think of no other response but to take their daughter to the Veterans Hospital to visit the psychologist on an emergency basis.  It was during this visit that I got to meet Lisa and her parents personally.

     As I approached the hall where the hospital staff had restrained Lisa to the metal bed with linen ties, I could not help but notice the despair on her parents’ faces.   Lisa’s arms and legs were tied firmly to the bed, as if she was a savage beast.

     Since the psychologist was unavailable, and Lisa’s parents were Catholics, they asked for a priest.  The parents asked me to bless their daughter with holy water.

     Lisa had been given a shot of morphine and was quite tranquil in her bed.  I assured her parents that everything would be fine. I went to my office and located a small bottle of holy water and then returned to Lisa’s bedside.  Arriving in the hall where I had seen her just a few minutes before, I saw Lisa moving hysterically and yelling, “Get away from me!  Don’t come any closer!”  Automatically I paused, but her parents bid me approach their daughter.  I must admit that I had mixed emotions about the situation before me.  I decided to do a simple blessing over the child.  I unscrewed the bottle containing the holy water and placed a few drops on my hand.  Quickly, I recited a short prayer and placed my moist palm on Lisa’s forehead.  Immediately, the young girl yelled out the words, “Stop! You’re killing me!  You’re killing me, you son of a bitch!”  I backed away in shock! Then I immediately said, “Child, be at peace with your Savior who will deliver you.”

     She opened her eyes wide and stared at me with what appeared to be the eyes of the devil himself.  At that point, there was no mistaking that I was in the presence of evil.  I’ll never forget the intense hatred directed at me in those large brown eyes.  Being a young and inexperienced priest, I was shaken. Attempting to gain control of the situation before me and of my own emotions, I said aloud, “The love of our Father in Heaven and of his son, Jesus Christ bless you.”  At that point Lisa went crazy! She broke away from the linen restraints, and we backed away as she sat up in bed.  By this time, there must have been about five nurses looking on.  No one made an attempt to intercede.

     Everything was happening so quickly, we did not have time to react.  Suddenly, Lisa reached past her extended legs with both hands, grabbed her left foot, and began to pull the foot towards her as she repeated these words, again and again, “Jesus loves me, Jesus loves me.”  I began to hear the bones in her foot dislocate and break.  There was no indication on her face that she was in any pain, just a wild, unearthly smile.  The sight of this poor girl doing such physical damage to her foot was horrible to watch.  Both her father and I lunged towards her.  We took hold of her arms and pulled with all our might. Her strength was unbelievable!  Lisa’s mother yelled for me to throw holy water on her daughter.  I took the glass bottle out of my pocket as the nurses took my place holding her.  I doused Lisa with the water. Instantly she fell back on the bed and let out a terrible scream.  It was awful. No one in Lisa’s hospital room was prepared for what took place next.

     As Lisa collapsed on her bed,we saw a large black dog crawl out from under the bed.  Its ears were bent back, its long tail was curved tightly down between its legs and the hair on its back was standing straight up.  As soon as it had cleared the bed frame, the dog bolted towards the door and down the hallway.  Several courageous nurses went in pursuit of the animal, but amazingly it was never found. There was no way for it to escape.  The hall doors all had handles and latches, which needed to be turned in order to open them.  The black dog had simply disappeared.  Lisa was shaking and crying in her mother’s arms.

     After spending a night in another hospital under observation, Lisa regained her composure and was well enough to be released.  Her foot was in a cast, but aside from that she looked fine.

     I kept in touch with Lisa and her parents for a few years following the incident, and can give my personal assurance that she turned out to be as normal as can be.  Lisa was unable to recall much of her brush with evil.  Both her parents are now deceased, and Lisa is employed by the Albuquerque Public Schools. 

     Well, there you have it. I’ve not much more to add except please, let the readers of my story know that evil is very real and always ready to grab the opportunity to challenge God.  May you all be blessed and protected.